I love this movie so much

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

As the years tick by, it seems that modern audiences have less and less time for the comedies of the earlier decades of motion pictures. Certainly here in the UK you'd be hard-pushed nowadays to find any of the output of Chaplin, Keaton, the Marx Brothers or Laurel & Hardy on television. As for Harold Lloyd or Harry Langdon - forget it.W C Fields has, perhaps, never enjoyed a particularly strong following on this side of the Atlantic but even so, there was a time when his films would populate the TV schedules. That time seems past and Fields is unquestionably becoming something of an obscurity. The image of an ageing, obese comedian fell out of favour when audiences turned their backs on once-popular stars of more recent times such as Benny Hill and Bernard Manning and the liquor-loving lechery of W C Fields in this context is unlikely to find much support.Fields oughtn't be so casually dismissed. He was a strong identifiable and quite unique character on screen, and a comedian with a sharp repartee who knew his craft. "Never Give A Sucker An Even Break" dates from the latter stages of his career as ill health was beginning to take a grip of him, but his wit is still on top form and he is still able to engage in a surprising amount of physical comedy.The film betrays the notion that it had a rather turbulent production. The original script apparently contained scenes that are not even alluded to in the finished picture, which would have expanded upon the relationship between Fields and his niece (played by Gloria Jean). Several actors who allegedly shot scenes for this film are wholly absent from the final cut. And at one point even Fields himself breaks the fourth wall to actually tell the watching audience of a scene which was excised at the behest of the censors! What we are left with is a slightly disjointed mess. The plot, such as it is, involves Fields visiting a film studio to try and sell his latest script to a producer. Along the way we are treated to glimpses of the rather chaotic life at the studio where Fields' niece is employed as an up-and-coming star.As the producer reads through Fields' rather far-fetched story idea, the events in the script are related through live action so we actually get to 'see' the movie as Fields' character envisaged it, albeit with interruptions from the producer.This story-within-a-story approach is novel for the time, and is an interesting mirror of the true genesis of "Never Give A Sucker An Even Break", but it is also rather limiting. The 'Esoteric Studios' plot is simply too weak to hold up a feature film and is far more the sort of situation you'd expect to find in a Three Stooges short subject.Much more interesting is the 'inner story', that is the plot of Fields' script that the producer reads, which concerns Fields falling out of an aeroplane and landing in the isolated mountain-top residence of a man-hating woman and her beautiful daughter who has grown to adulthood without even being aware of the existence of men. The arrival of Fields in this situation is ripe for comedy and has great potential, but that potential is barely tapped as too many possibilities are spurned and Fields leaves the scene all too quickly.Fields is easily the most interesting character in this film. Unfortunately too many of the others are found wanting and the sequences where Fields is absent suffer badly because they rely on weak comedy from others (notably Franklin Pangborn as the film producer, and juvenile double-act Butch and Buddy) and rather superfluous musical scenes in which the very capable Gloria Jean sings numbers which are badly dated now.The film ends rather abruptly after a lengthy car chase sequence which again has little relevance to the plot, and seems contrived to give the film a more spectacular conclusion, but in reality it's not a conclusion at all - whilst Fields' character was determined to reach a specific destination the rather thin plot, sadly, was not going anywhere and so the film just - well, ends.

Your response to "Never Give A Sucker An Even Break" will largely depend on your taste for W. C. Fields and / or surrealism. If you like at least one (or both) of the above, you'll probably be in heaven; if you don't, you probably won't even finish it. The film is both self-deprecating and self-serving; Fields is not afraid to make fun of himself, but it seems like he felt that, at this stage of his career, he didn't even need a script anymore: he could just show up in front of the camera, say some funny lines (his delivery is slower than usual, probably due to health problems), place himself (and others) in a series of inexplicable situations, and the audience would have no choice but to roll around on the floor laughing. This stream-of-consciousness, breaking-of-the-fourth-wall style may seem revolutionary, until you remember that the Marx Brothers had already done that sort of thing 10 years earlier (Groucho talking to the audience in "Horse Feathers", as Chico is about to start playing the piano: "I have to stay here, but there is no reason YOU folks shouldn't go out into the lobby until this thing blows over!"). Speaking of the Marx Brothers, their frequent co-star Margaret Dumont also appears here, but her role is disappointingly small; and the young Gloria Jean, who has a terrific voice but her songs have about as much to do with anything else as....anything else, co-starred with Groucho in his later vehicle "Copacabana". The film does end with a (literal) bang, though: a car chase that features some incredibly dangerous and accomplished stunt driving. **1/2 out of 4.

This was my first view of NEVER GIVE A SUCKER AN EVEN BREAK--and although one can quibble with the long, long title for a breezy comedy of this sort--you can't say the film doesn't provide a number of well-deserved laughs.W.C. FIELDS brings his insanely constructed script to director FRANKLIN PANGBORN who, despite his protestations over the silliness of many of the scenes, keeps reading it. We see the movie-within-the-movie taking shape on the screen and can well understand Pangborn's protests. However, it's insanely funny, especially since the story is peppered with talent like LEON ERROL, MARGARET DUMONT, IRVING BACON and others.GLORIA JEAN is featured prominently as Fields' niece and given plenty of opportunity to show that she had a talented way with operatic ditties. The rehearsal scene with Pangborn as workers continue construction on a set being readied for the next day, leads to some of the funniest moments in the whole story.The film ends with a mad car chase to get what Fields supposes is a pregnant woman to a nearby hospital--hilariously staged with split second timing and some truly dangerous stunts. The chase and various other set pieces, along with all the witty one-liners from Fields delivered in his usual dry manner, are enough to keep you highly amused throughout.

This movie came out shortly after "The Bank Dick" and suffers by comparison. "The Bank Dick", though not his best film (I'd give that honor to "It's a Gift"), is one of the better ones. Also, it really shows that Fields had so much control over the movie--though perhaps it is a little too self-indulgent and surreal at times. Some may find the extreme silliness refreshing--I just thought it bordered on stupid on occasion (like when he dove out of the airplane after his lost bottle of hooch only to fall into the arms of Margaret Dumont--unscratched). Also, insisting on the casting of the teen actress Gloria Jean was a big mistake as Fields is at his best when he is fighting or abusing kids, not treating them in an avuncular manner (wow--that's a big word--it means treating them like he's their beloved uncle). Despite these two big drawbacks, the film still has wonderful moments and I do recommend it. However, if you are unfamiliar with his films, DON'T watch this one first!